Somniare Solace
z Z z Z
Finally moved all posts to somniaresolace.wordpress.com
Only going to lurk on Tumblr for Vocaloids pictures from now on ~_~
Book Girl and the Corrupted Angel
“That tomorrow she [Nanase] was going to see Miu Asakura –”
… and I thought I would never use bracket in a quote. lol
FU .. FUUU… FUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCCCCKK D: omfg wtf? Mizuki Nomura, why must you end your 4th book with such a cliffhanger? Even though it takes a painful 7 months wait for each additional book to be translated into English, the wait time was somehow manageable because the previous 3 books contained their own stories within the books themselves; so at the end, I always felt that the 7 months wait was worth it. Just when I thought everything finished nicely when I got to the prologue (which is only around 17 pages long, btw), Nomura ends the 4th book with this kind of cliffhanger, on the last sentence ;_;
Even though book 4 will make me check the release status of Wayfarer’s Lamentation (book 5), Corrupted Angel is, by far, my favorite book in the Book Girl series so far, followed by Famished Spirit (book 2). Why? It’s simple. Corrupted Angel is pretty much dedicated to Nanase! Though the story doesn’t necessarily centers around Nanase (contradictions LOL). But OMG, Nanse is so cute! >.< She went from being a side character in Suicidal Meme (book 1), who people only care about because she’s a tsundere, to possibly the main character for rest of the series. I’m so rooting for Nanase x Konoha now @_@ Sadly, I really can’t explain why without spoiling the entire book.
I used to consider Tohko x Konoha to be an option. But throughout the series so far, Tohko seems to be more of a mentor to Konoha than a possible romantic partner. It’s quite funny how the series is titled Book Girl; and yet, Tohko serves as a comedic device more than anything else, but it’s how the series have a perfect balance of suspense and comedy. Here’s an example:
“
‘Don’t be like that. Gimme something [for Christmas Eve]. It doesn’t have to be something big.’
At those words I recalled the bookmark that I’d stuck in my student planner. When I pulled it out of the planner and held it out to her, Tohko put out both hans to accept in.
When she saw my cell phone number and my e-mail address written on it, her eyes crinkled.
‘Sincerely — it’s like a letter. Or like … from the heart or genuinely or truly … like that …’
The words of my e-mail address were borrowed from a song that I liked.
Tohko softly pressed the bookmark to her lips.
In the light of the moon and the glittering of the Christmas tree, my heart skipped a beat at that gesture, which seemed so like a ritual.
‘It’s so sweet … like candied violets.’
Her petal-like lips beamed delicately.
The she popped the bookmark into her mouth and began making crunching noises as she chewed.
She swallowed the very last scrap and —
With a smile , she said, ‘Ahhh, that was delicious. Thank you.’
I stared at her blankly.
‘Oh — what’s wrong? Konoha?’
‘You ate it.’
‘Huh?’
‘You ate my cellphone number and email address.’
‘Whaaaat? I wasn’t supposed to eat it?’
”
LMAO
Oh, and deus ex machina? That too -_- every.single.books.in.the.series.thus.far. Personally,I’m not a fan of deus ex machina; you can even say that I hate it. But seeing how that’s the only way for Tohko to be even relevant, I guess I’ll just have to deal with it =/
Enough of my fanboy-ism. I do believe that the Book Girl series is written pretty nicely, despite being a light novel. The style is quite different from most Western works. I’ll focus on Corrupted Angel from the series as an example, since I just finished reading that. First, there is practically zero erroneous characters in the book; everybody’s roles are pretty darn important. This minimalistic approach lessens the importance of identifying who the main characters are. Second, characters that persist throughout the series don’t really stand in the center of conflicts in each individual books, so far (I’m told this would change. Damn you, Internet). What you end up getting is a very nicely paced characters developments for characters that persist throughout the series. Additionally, every book makes allusion to classic literature. It’s not so much as what makes the story, but it’s more of an archetype. Just relate it to how Fate/ Zero uses the King Arthur legend as an archetype. And lastly, dat plot-twist, though this kinds of ties in with the minimalistic style that Nomura uses. I can’t expand on that without spoiling the series any further, so I’ll just leave it at that.
A good book only lasts so long. Now I have to wait another 7 months for Wayfarer’s Lamentation to come out >.< I do hope volume five of Spice and Wolf will last me longer than this, though that’s a whole separate kind of style (gah … there’s actually quite a few vocabularies in there).
Anyway, it’s like 12:30 in midnight, and I’m writing a book review on Tumblr while I still have a pretty high fever. Best.Idea.Ever.
Books, books, and more books!
I guess I won’t be bored for the next month ^_^. The illustrations in Book Girl are beautiful as always. It’s surprising how I ordered these from Amazon with free shipping, and it took 3 days for them to get here. wtf fast. As far as I know, Corrupted Angel makes allusion to Phantom of the Opera - first time making an allusion to a western work. =O Let’s see how it goes.
re;flection
I haven’t written a post for about a month now lol. I made some changes to my blog ;D First off, I dumped the SCM player and switched to a better quality player. SCM uses Youtube audio for source, which has really crappy quality =l The new player uses direct mp3 link, so no quality is lost ^_^ Second, I changed my playlist down to four songs. The surprising part? All four are sung in English. I know. Me listening to English songs? The world must be ending. I can’t express how relevant these songs are to me, at one point or another. Amalee did the cover for these songs. She has such a great voice. On a side note, I personally like the new player more than the SCM. Customizable color is always a win.
Now that I think about it, I’m such a hippie =l
Well, getting that out of the way wasn’t so hard after all. The hard part for me is not writing long blog posts, but rather, thinking of a non-generic post title is so damn hard! Just as a paper’s quality is dependent on the paragraphs’ substances, how great a title is depends on only so many words. Today is January 18th, 2012, and most websites that I frequent are participating in a blackout protest against SOPA/ PIPA (Reddit, Wikipedia, etc.), even Google participated in a way by blacking out its logo (l0l). For damn, I’m so glad I don’t have any big project or term paper due on the 19th, otherwise I’d be screwed =.= January 18th pretty much embody the worst day of my online experience as long as SOPA/ PIPA don’t become law. When I signed onto Tumblr this morning, it prompted me to participate in the blackout by blacking out my Tumblr. While I’d love to participate because I strongly oppose to SOPA/ PIPA, I pretty much said “blackout? fuck that”. Reddit is already down D: I need something to procrastinate on …
Let it be known that on SOPA/ PIPA Blackout Protests Day, January 18th, 2012, is also known as Get Work Done Day -_-” I guess I’ll finally be able to sleep early tonight for once.
College applications are done, for now. Right now, I’m just going to go through two and a half months of nothingness before I receive all my rejection letters =l I am still quite uncertain about what I want to do right now. I do not linger much about being in high school, but I’m not that looking forward to college anyway. I have very little friends, but I treasure the few I consider friends. As such, I’ve come to live by the following assumptions:
- The past four years are nothing but lies and betrayal; what’s left behind now is a dream that’s far removed from the actual realities.
- Friends are only worthwhile to make if I can be very open to them; friends are best kept at a distance.
- I am a very contradictive person.
I didn’t realize about point 2 until recently, even though I’ve lived by it for quite a while now. Of the few whom I consider close friends, they’re actually quite distant from me, one way or another.
Sadly, there is no one I consider to be close friends of mine at school at the moment. Their personality either varies vastly from mine, or they’re just too motivated by self-interests. I guess you fit in the latter description. You can be a very great friend as long as I have something you want.
Sometimes, I feel that I need to be a hypocrite to be able to critically see things around me. Is it not out of my self-interest that I define what makes a close friend in order to find people that I can trust, and support me? Anyway. As of now, the outlook that I get from people as a whole feels … inherently fake. I suppose most can say it’s a fact that human prefer predictability. I don’t get why people try to do things that would conceal who they really are. Then again, I daresay I have the best poker face in the school. People don’t really know who I am as a person, until they find this blog of mine (l0l). The funny part is, I listed my blog as my website on my facebook. It’s visible to everyone on my friend list; I guess people are just careless by nature.
I’m actually quite conflicted right now about college. Putting aside chances of acceptance, I really wanted to go out-of-state, and to the East Coast, for college. I want to live in the East Coast for its colder climate, and the different demographics of people I get to meet. On the other hand, there are few people here in California whom I would stay because of them -surprise, surprise!-. To me, going out-of-state means abandoning everything I’ve accomplished as a person here in California. I won’t be able to see the few friends I’ve made, and my existence will eventually fade from their life. I suppose this isn’t really the right time to think about this. I should decide when I start getting rejection letters in April =l
Welp, if only writting papers is this easy.
/fin
My cats are sleeping on my blanket. I want to listen to music, but I don’t want to wake them up.
What do? D:
Nisemonogatari Episode One Commentary
Shaft makes the weirdest fan service ever, and why is this series even rated R - 17+?
The opening for episode is … meh, to be honest. It’s a typical jpop song sung by Senjougahara’s voice actress. I feel that the sequence is just somewhat lacking know it’s Shaft who directed the series.
Words in the -gatari series are to what robots are in gundam - everything. -_-“
=O I still remember that slow motion stairway scene from Bakemonogatari!
Why is there a tree in the cram school? It’s not even on the ground floor! Moreover, why is it glowing? -_-
1:35
“Good for you, to be able to point out my mistake.
Take pride in this moment forever.”
LOL When Yukiteru got a striptease from Yuno when he got abducted in Mirai Nikki; Araragi got nothing but talks.
2:25
“You want something to drink?
Well, I guess …
But I’m going to drink it”
Why did the whole screen suddenly turned pink as if the drink releases light? o_o
3:18
“Wouldn’t it be better for you, if you just died?”
Araragi, my reaction exactly LOL. Senjougahara is such a tsundere.
7:35
I was fine having Shaft using transparent walls in Madoka, but this is just a Shaft being Shaft moment >.>
8:03
Tsukihi, the younger one of the Araragi Sisters. ಠ_ಠ Is she seriously 14? … jailbait
8:14
More Shaft moments - studio-like ceilings, and floating stairs. Here’s a word of advise. If there are anything but sunny weather in where you live, NEVER live in a Shaft constructed house =.=
8:46
o_O Holy shit! Araragi’s hair split!
9:28 ~ 9:32
“I don’t know what’s going with the bigger sister, the little sister, or the middle sister!”
“I don’t have a middle sister …”
LOL is all I can say here. The Araragi family is so interesting.
9:57
._. I honestly won’t have notice this frame if I didn’t have to rewatch the episode to find screenshots for commentary.
10:35
“Actually, I’m busy every day but today.”
Sengoku sure is, erm, assertive for a supposedly 14 years old.
13:14
Araragi has one of the funniest rape face =.= I mean, seriously, look at him!
13:22
To rape, or not the rape, that, is the question.
13:59
I guess being a vampire does gives you some perks.
14:06
Poor Hachikuji ;_; As much as this may looks like a pedophile scene, it’s not. -_-“
14:30
@_@ Hachikuji looks so much more bad ass compared from Bakemonogatari.
18:03
Holy shit! I didn’t know you can make everything sounds positive just by adding the word “courage”. o_o
The courage to waste time on Tumblr instead of getting a good night rest. OMG This is awesome!
“like this?”
LOL This is scene is priceless! I wonder what would happen if Araragi dressed in a pedobear costume for Halloween. That’d be LOL.
Welp, no ending for episode one. I was so looking forward to ClariS’s new song too, not to mention that it’s a collaboration with Ryo from Supercell. Although season two for Fate/ Zero won’t be airing until April, Nisemonogatari is more than enough to fill its time slot for me ^_^ I can’t wait for next episode.
Fin.
Starbucks Gold Membership!
(≧∇≦) My Starbucks gold membership card just came in the mail today. OMG It’s so shiny and it reflects! I go to Starbucks every day in the morning to get my free brewed coffee (all thanks to the tumbler I bought on December 12th - I swear, it was like Black Friday for Starbucks). Although I have to accumulate 30 stars in 2012 to remain Gold for 2013, I am already at 6/30 stars ;D Well, it is not like I suddenly went on a spending spree, I just order a coffee cake every morning along with my free coffee so I can eat something to go with the coffee during lunch.
When I saw the gold membership’s benefits, I was like … free syrups and milk, does that mean I can order an ice coffee with syrups and milk to turn it into an ice latte for the price of an ice coffee? xD I’m so going to try that after January!
Writing this post instead of studying for a chemistry test tomorrow. Gah, I’m so good with prioritizing my tasks, not to mention I still have to commentate Guilty Crown 11 and Nisemonogatari 01. FML =.=
Fin.
